To Sacrifice For Life v2
by Sombra de Severus
Summary: A remake of an old fic I did... Severus gives the ultimate sacrifice to save Arthur Weasley's life. Will he get another chance at life or is he doomed to be chained to the earth as a spirit forever?
1. The Situation

Disclaimer: I don't own the Potterverse and never will. But I can dream, can't I?

A/N: I was reading through this old story and oh, my… it's really terrible. So I thought I'd give it a makeover **-g-.**

** TO SACRIFICE FOR LIFE**

Lucius Malfoy hovered over the victim. Severus Snape leaned against the stone wall, veiling his discomfort at the situation. The red-haired man fought the ropes that bound him to the chair. He shouted threats that echoed off the stone walls, until Lucius finally put a silencing spell on him.

"Well, well, Mr. Weasley," Lucius sneered. Severus shifted his weight. There had to be a way to save the man. He didn't like him, not even a little bit, but he couldn't just leave him to die by Lucius's hands, could he? There had to be another way. Weasley thrashed against the heavy robes. His eyes were taped shut by the lashes, and Severus could see the shape of his eyeballs moving beneath the thin skin.

"This would be much more painless if you would just _cooperate_," Lucius hissed. Arthur's mouth moved wordlessly. Lucius backhanded the man. His combed-over hair shifted from the force of the blow to reveal part of the man's balding head. Lucius chuckled. Bright blood trailed from where he'd broken the redhead's lip.

Lucius looked around for a moment, looking slightly confused. "Severus, I think I must've left my bag in the front room. Why don't you go get it for me?" Lucius sneered. Severus felt a slight surge of nervousness at having his name said in front of the hostage. He could practically see Weasley's tiny brain working out why the name 'Severus' sounded familiar.

"Go get it yourself, Lucius. I'm not walking all the way down that hall to search around for what _you_ misplaced." He snapped.

"Fine, be that way," Lucius hissed, looking away from the tied-up man to glare at Severus. Severus simply smirked at him. "Prat," Lucius said. "Guard this idiot while I go look for it,"

Severus waited until he could no longer hear Lucius's footsteps in the hall, and locked the heavy door to the room he was in. He lifted the silencing spell on the man in front of him.

"Hold still," he said, walking over.

"Not bloody likely!" Arthur hollered.

"For Merlin's sake, be quiet you fool! Lucius will hear you!" Severus snarled, he ripped the tape from Arthur's face.

"Ouch!" Arthur hissed, before blinking at Severus. "YOU are a Deatheater? You teach my children! I can't believe Dumbledore would hire such a _monster_," Arthur hissed vehemently.

"Shut up or you'll die here, you insufferable idiot. Can't put two and two together, can you?" Severus snapped. He pulled out a knife and attempted to cut the ropes open. He hissed as the wards on the ropes deflected the knife. It sank deeply into his wrist, cutting a vertical line down the soft flesh of his arm.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he snarled as he pulled out his wand. He had forgotten the charms were there, a stupid mistake caused by the fact that his heart was pounding so loudly in his ears that he could barely concentrate on what he was doing. He finally got the redheaded man free.

"What are you, setting me free?" Arthur asked, confused and angry. "What kind of a Deatheater are you?"

"Don't be a fool, Weasley, I'm a spy for Albus," he hissed. "Now if you don't mind, we ought to get out of here before I pass out from blood loss," Arthur looked at the blood that was flowing down the slender man's hand and dripping in large puddles onto the tile floor.

"You've injured yourself," Arthur said.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed," Severus snarled. He opened a scuffed door on the opposite side of the room, revealing a courtyard. "You can't apparate here, we'll have to get off the property first," he said. He clutched his arm to his body, leading the way through the yard. He kept close to the tall hedges, where no one would see them.

He led the way through a forest and out into a small, sparse neighborhood. His breath was short, labored. He stumbled slightly, and Arthur leapt forward to catch him. The taller, broader man was too heavy for him, though, and he ended up kneeling next to Severus, who stooped over, his uninjured arm supporting him. Blood was smeared on his hands and face, the fabric of his robes too dark to see it. He was paler than usual, which was quite a feat, and he looked up for a moment.

Arthur looked into his face, noticing that Severus's eyes were clouded and his expression dazed. There was a moment of silence, before Severus's arm gave way and he passed out. Arthur stood up, feeling useless, before running to the nearest house. He pounded on the door, and an elderly witch answered.

"Can I help you?" she asked softly.

"Please, ma'am," he said desperately. "A man just saved me from the deatheaters, and in the process he got hurt really badly,"

"Oh, my!" she murmured.

"Please, please can't you help him?" he asked.

"Show me," she said sternly.

Arthur led the way to the younger man in the red-stained grass. The woman looked for a moment, her eyes hooded, before she looked back up to Arthur.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said, putting her knobby hand on his arm. "We're too late..."


	2. The Ghost

Arthur stared at the old witch, his eyes wide. "He… he's dead?" She nodded slowly, carefully. She patted him on the back, hobbling back into her house.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looking at the still form of the man on the ground before him. He was white-faced, moisture on his forehead and a few red fingerprints on his high cheekbone. His wrist lay exposed, the large slice on his arm gleaming red against the chalky skin.

Had it not been him that Severus had saved, had it not been a daring and dangerous journey, had it not been that Severus had injured himself WHILE helping Arthur, he might not have cared so much that the unpleasant and slightly spooky man was dead. Had the man not given his own life in order to save Arthur's, he might not have cared. Unfortunately, he had, and now that Arthur thought of it, he'd probably saved countless others, too. How could he just get up and walk away?

A look of firm determination plastered his face as he straightened himself. He gathered the heavy man into his trembling arms, and disapparated.

When he arrived home, he let the body fall onto the kitchen table, upsetting a few glasses and bowls that fell to the floor with the sound of breaking dinnerware. He looked at the clack, seeing that most of his family was at home. He called out, and the edge to his voice must have been evident, because he heard people's feet moving about upstairs immediately.

A drop of sweat trickled down his temple, and he started violently at the sound of a scream. He turned to see his youngest child and only daughter with her slender hands clapped over her mouth, her brown eyes wide and shocked at the sight before her.

"Jesus, dad!" Ron's voice said from the other entrance to the kitchen. "What the hell happened?" He didn't bother to chastise his 15 year old son for his language, he would have had the same sentiment in his boy's situation.

The whole family, save the oldest two, were there now, looking in shock at the angular form of Hogwarts' esteemed potions master lying on their kitchen table.

"Arthur," Molly whispered. "What on earth has happened?"

"Dad?" Percy asked, edging a bit closer for a better look.

"Your teacher saved me," he said softly, firmly. His face was starting to flow back to its original color. "I was kidnapped by Deatheaters, and he saved me. He accidentally cut his arm open while he was trying to cut open the ropes I was tied with. We got free and he snuck me out of the building I was being held in, but… he passed out, and I went to get help but he was already…"

Arthur reached out and pulled Snape's limp wrist towards him revealing the ugly wound. There were gasps and shrieks from the family, and Fred had his hand over his mouth, looking decidedly queasy. Arthur covered it again. "I didn't know what to do, where to go, so I apparated here…"

"But, dad," Ron said. "That's… I mean, it's _Snape_," he seemed confused and upset. How could Snape, his evil Potions master who hated everything and everyone, do something so virtuous?

"That makes no difference, Ron!" Arthur snapped at him, angry at his son's disbelief. "He saved my life,"

"Did you think that _we_ would know what to do?" Percy asked, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Well, I had this idea, you see," he said softly. "The ministry is doing some really secret project on ways to bring witches and wizards back to life. I mean there are some sort of regulations, the death has to be a certain kind of death, but I thought, maybe, that they could help him, bring him back to life. It has something to do with personalities, and you all knew him,"

George peered over the corpse, poking the face gently with his index finger. "Shouldn't you be asking the _ministry_ about that, Dad?" he asked.

"George, stop it!" Arthur grabbed the boy by the shoulder, jerking him away. He was startled to see the body move. It lurched violently as a black mist-like cloud tore itself from his chest. They watched, stunned, as it reformed into a ball.

"Oh my GOD," a familiar voice hissed as the ball drifted to rest on the top of the body's chest. "You've KILLED me!" it snarled, gleaming a red color.

"That sounds like Snape," George yelped.

"That's because it IS, you bloody idiot," the voice hissed.

Ginny looked at it in fascination. "Is that a ghost?" she wondered. She reached out to touch it. "It doesn't look like the ghosts at school," her fingers brushed it. She yelped, jerking her hand back. The thing jumped away from her.

"Stop it! Don't you have _any_ respect?" the voice hissed.

"Are you okay, Professor?" Arthur asked tentatively.

"Okay, am I okay?" the orb gleamed red again. "Of course I'm not fucking okay! I'm DEAD, you idiot! And of course no easy death for me, I can't just DIE like normal people. Instead of getting released, I'm stuck as some fucking deformed ghost? Does it SOUND like I'm _okay_?"

"Arthur… I think we'd better contact Dumbledore." Molly said, finally. Arthur nodded. "I think you're right, Molly." He murmured.

Sure enough, within the hour, Dumbledore had arrived.


	3. The Punchline

            "Ah," Dumbledore said. "It's called a Lumen Orbis," he frowned.

            "Lumen Orbis?" Snape's voice queried lowly. "Light Circle?"

            "Right." Dumbledore said. "It's uncommon but not unheard of. If a person is killed in certain circumstances, instead of becoming a ghost, which is simply a _mirror_ of the body that contains the soul, or instead of the soul dissolving into the World soul and becoming part of the earth, it becomes an energy sphere of emotions and thoughts that went through the mind of the person while they were dying." Dumbledore spoke carefully, to make sure everyone understood what he meant.

            "So… I'm my thoughts. Which explains why I am still thinking. But how can I be thinking different things than what was in my head at my death?" Snape wondered.

            "Perhaps I should go into further detail. Your soul is trapped inside the sphere, because the thoughts you were having at the time are weighing you down. Those emotions and thoughts are harnessed to the body, as they were thought at the moment of death. Basically, you are chained to you corpse. Arthur was right in that they are currently doing studies in Ministry research about this phenomenon. They're attempting to find triggers that will put the soul back into the body,"

            "So… I am chained to my corpse. What a pleasant prospect. That's disgusting, Albus,"

            "Actually, it's not that bad, Severus," Dumbledore said. "The body will not decompose or be destroyed as long as your soul is attached to it. In a sense, it is still alive in the same way that vampires are alive."

            "So, I'm stuck here, basically. No eternal bliss, no eternal damnation, no eternal nothingness? Just… stuck?" The lumen orbis bobbed, turning a grayish blue color.

            "Exactly," Dumbledore said with a sigh.

            "How boring." Snape grumbled.

            "Actually, you could still teach if you wanted something to do. We could just, I don't know, prop you up in the corner of the classroom or something." Dumbledore lifted an eyebrow tentatively.

            "Wait, so you want to put my corpse in a classroom for nine hundred students to gawk at all day?" he asked.

            "Well… we could put a blanket over it or something," Dumbledore shrugged.

            The orb turned a yellow color and laughter filled the room. "That's an interesting idea, Albus. I say, the first day of classes just leave it uncovered, so they can think I'm sleeping. Then when that cautious first year walks over and pokes me, I can leap out and terrify them!" More laughter, this time it seemed more malicious laughter than anything else.

            "You know, this is why Neville is so afraid of you!" Ron said.

            "Ron," Molly said in a warning tone.

            "Neville's afraid of me because he's a weak little idiot," Snape said nonchalantly. "If he would just get a spine he might actually do something right for once."

            The family sat for a few moments, before Molly clapped her hands against her knees.

            "Well! It's dinner time. Albus, we'd be blessed if you would stay to dine with us. Arthur, you're going to have to move… that…" she pointed to the corpse.

            "Yes, Arthur, move _that_," the orb hissed mockingly. "Honestly, woman, I am not to be heaved about like so much trash," he snarled.

            Nevertheless, Arthur lifted the body from the table and dumped it into an overstuffed armchair that faced away from the table. Molly went about wiping the wood down with a clean cloth.

            Even with that added effort, nobody seemed to touch the table during their meal. Snape noticed this. The orb glared a maroon color.

            "You can touch the fucking table you know, I'm not poisonous!" He snarled at the startled family.

            "Severus, watch your language around the students," Dumbledore chastised.

            "I think I deserve to vent a little bit, Albus. You know I can still feel the damn thing, and that arm still hurts. So don't mind me if I'm just a little bit _edgy_," The orb hovered slightly, occasionally stretching and changing shape, looming like Snape did in class.

            The days passed quickly, it seemed. Within a few days, winter holidays were over and it was time to return to school. Dumbledore had set Severus up in a mechanical sort of wheeled chair, and with his limited solidity he was able to push the button and move the body around.

            Finally the day came when classes began again. The Weasleys all knew about what had happened, of course, but none of them were comfortable talking about it. They were so shaken up by the even that they could barely think about it without going pale.

"Ron!" Harry said as they met again after the break. They got to talking about what they had done over their break, but Ron had… conveniently left bits and pieces out.

When the feast began, they and Hermione looked up at the High Table as they always did. "Hey," Hermione said. "I wonder where Snape is,"

"Mm," Ron said. He felt uncomfortable keeping the information from his best friends, but he just couldn't talk about it. It made him afraid.

When dinner was over, and the House Elves had cleared the plates, they went to bed. Ron felt apprehension over the next day's classes. They wouldn't _really_ prop his body up in class, would they?

Harry noticed as they walked towards the dungeons that Ron appeared overly nervous. Hermione chatted about their assignment from over break and some of the things she'd discovered while researching. When they finally arrived to the classroom, they saw, not Snape, but Dumbledore.

"Where's Professor Snape?" Hermione asked.

"All in good time, my dear," Dumbledore smiled at the intelligent girl.

Ron looked about the room, noting the blanket covering something in the back corner. His stomach flipped. So they were going to go through with it. He felt nervous knowing that the dead body was there. Though he had grown semi-used to it, it still made him feel uncomfortable. Like he had swallowed a large wad of gum.

When the bell noted the beginning of the class, Dumbledore stood behind Snape's desk, folding his hands in front of him.

"Over holidays, something terrible happened," he began softly. Ron swallowed at the lump in his throat. "Professor Snape was involved in an escapade in which he felt it necessary to help someone escape from a very dangerous situation. While attempting to aid this person, he was injured very, very badly,"

There were confused murmurs around the room. Ron sat stiffly, sweat on his forehead.

"Because of the location and the nature of the situation, he was not able to receive medical aid in time to save his life. I'm sorry to say he was killed, though in quite a valiant and successful effort to save another's life."

The murmuring stopped as the students sat, staring in stunned awe.

"However," Dumbledore continued. "I'm sure many of you have heard of something known as a Lumen Orbis?" There was a bit more murmuring. "Professor Snape has become trapped in a form, similar to a ghost, and has made it clear that he wishes to continue teaching. Eventually, we hope to be able to re-bond his soul and his body, so he can continue teaching in a human form. But until then, I will leave it to him to make do with what he has," Dumbledore smiled at the students. He turned abruptly and walked out of the room. Ron thought idly that Dumbledore must be quite fit to have gone from his office to the dungeons at the beginning of every class.

The orb sulked into view from below the desk. It asserted itself into the space where Snape's eyes would have been. It was eerie to hear him speak without his body there.

"This is the one day that you have an opportunity to ask questions about the form I am trapped in. If anyone mentions anything about it ever again, you will lose house points. Regardless of what house you are in," his soft voice said firmly. "Any questions?"

No one moved. "Right, well. I'm something called a Lumen Orbis, which is basically the same as a ghost, save the fact that it's not in the image of my body. I will continue to teach, and don't think that I won't give you a detention just because I'm dead,"

Hermione tentatively raised her hand. "Professor?" she asked.

He seemed to sigh. "What?" he asked.

"If you're a Lumen Orbis, doesn't your body have to be in this room somewhere?"

_Leave it to Hermione,_ Ron thought.

"So it does, Miss Granger," Snape snapped. The students looked uncomfortable and began glancing to the blanketed form in the back of the room. They were disturbed at the prospect of a body in the classroom.

"Now, all things aside," he murmured. He began the day's lesson.

It seemed to Ron, though, that no one was paying attention. Whenever he looked at the other students he saw them looking at the blanketed form in the back. Ron could tell that the majority of them were so curious that they wanted the blanket to be removed.

The next day was the same. For days it went on like that, people couldn't seem to keep their minds on the lesson. Eventually, it seemed, Snape got tired of taking points and shouting at absent-minded students. Finally, one day, when they entered the room, the body was uncovered and slumped over his desk. The hair was pulled back from his face, his expression visible. His eyes were half-lidded and his skin very, very pale. There was still sweat on his brown and his mouth was grimaced in pain. Sweat trickled down the face of the body. It never stopped, although technically the thing was dead.

The class stared at the body. It was as though it were frozen in time, the moment of absolute death revealing and vulnerable before their eyes. The orb hovered above the desk, and moved slightly, pulling the wrist over so they could see the wound.

The hand was red-stained with blood and the gash was long and smooth, gleaming bright red and angry against the pale skin. Students gasped and many looked nauseous and uncomfortable, but none of them moved to look away.

The orb sat for a few minutes, the body and the hand, reaching out as though in an eternal plea for help. Red fingerprints on the cheekbone. The body taught the students a lesson. Even the harshest people have weaknesses, and you can only see their true self in the moment of vulnerability.

"And now you've seen it," his voice finally came. Shaking and strained. "Don't let me catch you staring at it again,"

The students nodded, their eyes never leaving it.

"Class dismissed." He muttered, and the students got up to leave. When the room was empty, Hermione still stood behind her desk. Ron and Harry lingered uncomfortably, waiting for her.

"Professor," she inquired softly. The orb directed its attention towards her. "Now what?" he snipped.

"Well, I was just wondering. Why don't you have Madam Pomfrey heal the body up so you can go back in?"

The orb turned green. "What? I can't go back in there, it's dead!"

"Well, I was doing some independent research and I discovered that the project on Lumen Orbis has, so far, discovered that it _is_ possible if you handle things correctly. First of all, the body has to be healed and rejuvenated. Then, when a certain trigger thought happens within the soul, it causes a reaction where it is sucked back into the body," she said.

The orb bobbed unsurely. "You're sure?" the words were slow and hopeful.

"Yes, I'm sure, Professor," Hermione nodded.

Snape turned to look at the body. "Well, then." He said shortly. "Weasley, come over here and help me push this old thing up to the hospital wing," he said, turning towards Ron. Ron paled. "Er… but sir…" he frowned.

"I saved your father's life, Weasley, the least you can do is save mine,"

"It was your _Dad_?" Harry asked, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?" he seemed slightly hurt.

"Because, I didn't think it was my place to tell everyone what happened," Ron said.

"And it wasn't. But it _is_ your place to wheel me up to Madam Pomfrey like a good little boy," Snape snapped. Ron frowned, but walked over and took hold of the back of the chair. He looked uncomfortable as he reached forward to grab the robes of the body and jerk it back against the chair so that it wouldn't fall out during the journey.

Harry and Hermione walked along with him, assisting him when he needed it. As they arrived at the Hospital Wing, they turned to leave.

"Hey," Snape snapped. "Stay here, I'll need you to wheel it back down when she's done.

Harry and Ron frowned, but took seats next to Hermione as they waited.

Madam Pomfrey made tutting noises with her tongue as she inspected the body. "Really, Severus, you should have brought this long ago to have it cleaned up. Do you have any idea what kind of an infection you could have gotten? What were you thinking?" she scolded him. The orb turned a mellow violet in embarrassment. Harry and Ron smirked at each other.

"Er… well, I didn't think about that," he offered.

"Bad excuse, Severus. I have half a mind to keep you here until you're competent enough to take care of yourself!"

"Sorry…" Severus murmured uncomfortably. Ron snickered, and the orb glared red and purple at him. He pulled a straight face.

"Merlin, Severus, honestly! These robes are filthy, I'm going to have to change them. They're covered in mud and blood, if you try to stay this way you'll catch your death of pneumonia!"

The orb glared red again. "Hey, now, Poppy, If you think for a _second_ that I'm going to let you dress me, you've got another thing coming!" he snarled.

"Hush, Severus! Don't be a baby! Boys, if you would go to his chambers and bring me some clean robes?" she directed to Harry and Ron. They smirked at each other and left. "It's not like you could really do anything about it anyways, Severus. What are you, going to glow at me?" she teased him good-naturedly. He hissed something inaudible but obviously malicious.

When they came back the curtains were drawn and the orb darting about outside it, a deep purple in color. "Where do you want these robes, Professor?" Ron asked.

"Just toss them over the bar, boys!" Came Madame Pomfrey's voice from within the curtain. They grinned and followed directions, before sitting down again. Soon the curtains were open again, and not only was the body dressed but it was also washed and groomed. The orb, though it seemed impossible, turned an even deeper violet color.

"Poppy! You could have just changed the robes, you know, you didn't have to wash!" his voice sounded shrill.

"Oh, honestly, Severus! I've never seen you so embarrassed in my life!" she shook her head,

"Well I've never had someone bathe me like a helpless child before!" He snarled at her.

"Oh, come now. I'm sure your mother bathed you when you were young. Now, boys, go on and help me put this body back in the chair and then you can take him on back down."

They did as they were told, and soon Severus was alone in his office again. He sank into the lap of the body he once occupied. "Christ," he hissed. "Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't I have just died like a normal person?" He heard a knock at the door, and floated high enough that he could see the Weasley twins, Ginny, and Ron standing in the doorway.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"We wanted to talk to you," George said. They spread a letter from their father out on his desk and explained that he had written to say that the Ministry had broken through the mysteries of Lumen Orbis and found a way to trigger the soul-body fusion again. He had written to say he was going to come and help Snape back into his body.

Severus could barely contain his excitement. "Finally," he said.

In a week, Arthur arrived and went immediately to see Severus in his office. Severus noticed that the Weasley children were lurking about in the hallway, peeking in. He couldn't bother himself to care when the idea of being alive again was in front of him.

"So, you just have to pour that slime into my mouth?" Severus said. The liquid looked extremely distasteful, but he was willing to try anything.

"Exactly," Arthur said. He walked over to the body. He managed to pull the jaw open enough to pour the liquid down Severus's throat. "It's supposed to induce the thought-trigger that will pull you back into your body."

_I wish **I **had children of my own…_ he thought suddenly.

He blinked. "What? I don't want children!" He said. _Wait, did I just blink?_ He thought. He looked around, suddenly realizing that he was in his body. "It worked! Oh, Merlin, it worked!" he said. He threw himself up and pulled Arthur into a crushing hug.

He jerked away suddenly, unsurely. "Er, I mean, thank you." He said, a genuine smile on his face. Arthur winked and nodded. "Thank _you_, Professor," he said.

Snape scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.

"Christ," he said.

"Is something wrong?" Arthur asked concernedly.

Snape moved his head and arms slightly.

"I don't think I've ever been this stiff in my life!"


End file.
